Dr. Elaine Burroughs

Contact Details
E-mail: Elaine.Burroughs@nuim.ie
(elaine.burroughs@hotmail.com)
Phone: 01 708 6460
Address: Room 22, Rhetoric House, NUI Maynooth, Co. Kildare.

Biography

My studies began in 2001 in University College Dublin with a BA honors degree in Geography and Archaeology. In 2006, I completed a MA in Geography in UCD, for which I received first class honors. My MA research focused on cultural geography, children’s geographies, and immigration. Through example and case-studies from Europe and Ireland, I revealed how children migrate for a variety of reasons, and how their unrecognition within migration theory is a loss to a full understanding of migration in the twenty-first century. I also explored an aspect of the asylum process, namely ‘unaccompanied minors’ and ‘separated children’ in Europe, and more specifically, in Ireland.
I undertook my PhD research in the Department of Geography NUI Maynooth between 2008 and 2012. This research focused upon discursive institutional representations of illegal/undocumented immigration in the Irish context.
I have previously conducted Geography tutorials in UCD and I am currently a Geography tutor with the Geography Department in NUI Maynooth and the Geography Department in St. Patrick’s College Drumcondra. I have a keen interest in teaching and learning, and I am a qualified University of Cambridge EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teacher and hold a PCTL (Professional Certificate in Teaching and Learning).

Research Interests

Political, cultural and critical geography
Migration
Governance and governmentality
Identity
Critical Discourse Analysis
Political Discourse
Media Discourse

Thesis Title

Irish institutional discourses of illegal immigration: a Critical Discourse Analysis approach

Summary of PhD Thesis

The dissertation examines illegal immigration in the Irish context. The principal aim is to investigate how illegal immigration was responded to and discursively represented in Irish institutional texts between 2002 and 2009. Analysis of institutional texts can cast light upon how power operates and how aspects of national identity can occur in conjunction with discourses of migration. Through a Foucauldian understanding of power and identity formation, this research argues that discourses can be utilized by those in positions of influence to exercise power. The study identifies a large number of institutional texts: over 1,000 parliamentary texts and over 2,500 newsprint media texts. Interviews are also undertaken with politicians and civil society activists in order to complement the institutional texts. By employing a Critical Discourse Analysis methodology, the dissertation identifies and analyzes the various ways that illegal immigration is framed in institutional texts and the argumentations (topoi) that are expressed about it. The research identifies five key discursive argumentations within which illegal immigrants are represented. These include the topoi ‘economy’, ‘humanitarian’, ‘culture’, danger’, and ‘control’. This research has found that there is a noticeable preoccupation with controlling illegal immigration in Irish institutional texts during the eight year period under analysis. There is also a significant level of negative discourses about illegal immigration; however, some positive discourses are evident. Overall, the dissertation argues that these discursive representations function in the operation of power and have three broad purposes, (i) governance through the nation state rationale and the continuation of nation building processes, (ii) the maintenance of inequality in society and legitimized practices of exclusion (including the justified control of illegal immigration), and (iii) legitimized expressions of racism.

Supervisors

First Supervisor: Dr. Mary Gilmartin.
Second Supervisor: Prof. Mary Corcoran.

Scholarships / Awards

John and Pat Hume PhD Scholarship (2009-2013). Awarded by the National Institute of Regional and Spatial Analysis (NIRSA), NUI Maynooth.

Presentations

• ‘Irish Parliamentary Discourses of Migration and Nationhood.’ Political Studies Association of Ireland, Postgraduate Conference, NUI Maynooth, 22-23 June 2012.
• ‘Portrayals of Illegal Immigration in the Irish Newsprint Media: A Critical Discourse Analysis Approach.’ European Association of Geographers Conference, St. Patrick’s College, Drumcondra, 1-2 June 2012.
  Conference page: http://www.eurogeography.eu/conference/dublin-2012/dublin2012-june2.html#session22
  Presentation: http://www.eurogeography.eu/conference/dublin-2012/dublin-presentations/2402/Burroughs.pdf (PDF document)
• ‘Representations of Illegal Immigration and Nationhood in Irish Parliamentary Discourses: A Critical Discourse Analysis Approach’. Conference of Irish Geographers, Trinity College Dublin, 25-27 May 2012.
• ‘Public Discourses on Illegal Immigration in Ireland: Findings from a Critical Discourse Analysis of Parliamentary Discourses and Newsprint Media.’ Conference of Irish Geographers, Mary Immaculate College Limerick, 6-8 May 2011.
• ‘A Window into Irish Governance and National Identity: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Public Discourses on Illegal Immigration in Ireland.’ RGS-IBG Postgraduate Mid-Term Conference, Durham University, 1-2 April 2011.
• ‘Summer School Essay and Evaluation of the Summer School’, ISSP/NIRSA Summer School 2010, NUI Maynooth, 21-25 June 2010.
• ‘My PhD Research’, ISSP/NIRSA Summer School 2010, NUI Maynooth, 21-25 June 2010.
• ‘Researching Illegal Immigration in Ireland: A Critical Discourse Analysis Approach’, Conference of Irish Geographers, NUI Maynooth, 30 April-2 May 2010.
• ‘My Methodology’, Presentation for the NIRSA Advanced Methodology Module, NIRSA Conference Room, John Hume Building, NUI Maynooth, 17 December 2009.
• ‘Illegality’, Presentation at the ‘Migration Salon’ for the NIRSA Migration Module Seminar, NIRSA Conference Room, John Hume Building, NUI Maynooth, 29 April 2009.
• 'Illegal Immigration', Presentation at the Postgraduate Seminar, Department of Geography, NUI Maynooth, 6 April 2009.

Poster Presentations

• ‘A Critical Discourse Analysis of Irish Public Discourses of Illegal Immigration’, Poster Presentation for the Department of Geography in Honor of the NUI Maynooth University President Philip Nolan, 9 February 2012.
  Click here to view (PDF document)
• ‘Formal PhD Training Experienced by NUIM Geography Students’, Presented in conjunction with Hobbs, A. and McGloughlin, J. S., at the IUA and NAIRTL 4th Level Ireland Conference, ‘The evolving landscape of Irish Graduate education’, Trinity College Dublin, 10th and 11th November 2009.
  Click here to view (PDF document)

Publications

• Hobbs, A., Burroughs, E., and McGloughlin, J. S., ‘Improving Formal Research Training: Lived Experiences at NUIM’, Geojournal (Forthcoming).
• Burroughs, E. (2011) ‘Theories of Power and Governance: From Gramsci’s Hegemony to Foucault’s Governmentality.’ Milieu 2011: Journal of the NUI Maynooth Geography Society, 34th Edition, 18-19.
• Hobbs, A., Burroughs, E., and McGloughlin, J. S., (2010) ‘Formal PhD training experienced by National University of Ireland Maynooth Geography Students’, In Murphy, J., Griffin, C. and Higgs, B. (2010) Research-Teaching Linkages: Practice and Policy. Proceedings of the Third Annual Conference of the National Academy for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning, November 2009. Cork: NAIRTLI, 164-165.
  To view see: http://www.nairtl.ie/documents/Research%20Teaching%20Linkages.pdf
• Burroughs, E. (2010) ‘Researching Illegal Immigration in Ireland: A Critical Discourse Analysis Approach’, Milieu 2010: Journal of the NUI Maynooth Geography Society, 33rd Edition, 35-36.
• Burroughs, E. (2009) 'Investigating Illegality', Milieu 2009: Journal of the NUI Maynooth Geography Society, 32nd Edition, 19-21.

Teaching Positions

• 1st year Geography Tutor, UCD, 2005-2006.
• 1st year Geography Tutor, NUIM, 2008-2013.
• 1st year Geography Tutor, St. Patrick’s College Drumcondra, 2012.
• 2nd year Geography Demonstrator, NUIM, 2009-2010.
• 3rd year Guest Lecturer for GY310A2, NUIM – Economic Geography of Ireland. ‘Researching Newspapers on the Internet’, 6th October 2010.
• 3rd year Tutor Migration and Geography Module GY310B, NUIM, 2012, 2013.
• 3rd year Geography Tutor, St. Patrick’s College Drumcondra, 2012.

University Service

• NUIM Semi-Senior Exams Invigilator, 2011-2013.
• NUIM Exams Invigilator, 2008-2010.
• Member of Organizing Committee ISSP/NIRSA Summer School, 21st–25th June 2010.
• Coordinator and Editor of Department of Geography Newsletter, 2010.
• Postgraduate Assistant at the Conference of Irish Geographers, 2010.
• Represented the Department of Geography NUIM as a Postgraduate Assistant at ‘Higher Options’, RDS, Dublin, 2009.

External Assignments

• Peer-reviewer for Journal of Language and Politics.
• Peer-reviewer for Geojournal.
• Peer-reviewer for E-pisteme Journal.

Membership of Professional Bodies

• GSI, Geographical Society of Ireland.